KYC, a risk-based assessment of customers (individuals and businesses), is an integral part of FICA which makes it incumbent on accountable institutions to carry out extensive due diligence on all financial services applicants.

This typically involves a list of documents, including minimum requirements such as proof of residence and proof of identification for individuals; and evidence of shareholding, director information and company history for businesses (either originals, or sighted by an institution employee).

Steeped in red tape and paper documents, the manual KYC process has long been the bane of institutions and potential customers alike. Not only is it costly and time-consuming, it can be incredibly frustrating, given South Africans’ unique circumstances.

Moonstone, a Stellenbosch-based independent support network for financial service providers, cites residential transience and “an inefficient postal service” as aggravating factors in the KYC process.

Applicant’s address (residential information) is verified against the SACRRA database, based on two parameters set by the credit provider, i.e. over what period – 3, 6, 12, 24 or 36 months; and how many address matches required, obtained from other credit providers.

If the Digital KYC API returns the applicant’s address data as matching the database, as per credit provider’s criteria, the system automatically approves the KYC process.

The system sends a response to the compliance department, indicating whether or not the consumer is FICA compliant.

API differentiator

What sets pbVerify’s KYC API apart from other digital KYC verification products on the market, is the advanced method is uses to not only effectively, but to irrefutably verify applicants’ information.

Our API uses geospatial technology, as well as multi-paradigm geodistance algorithms, to determine and compare address data between data received from applicants, and data on file from at least one hundred registered credit providers across South Africa.

Essentially, our technology loops through credit provider data to find similar address matches, within the said specified time parameter (3 to 36 months), within a few metres of the pinned geolocation of the applicant’s input.

One of the biggest challenges in South Africa when it comes to address verification by credit providers, is the fact that many citizens live in townships and townhouse setups, where the address does not conform to the standard street address format.

To overcome this challenge, pbVerify’s algorithm pinpoints the applicant’s address via geospatial location, strips all anomalies and/or conflicting information from the address, and finds other credit providers that have similar address details. Only if these are also within a few metres of the applicant’s original input, will the API accept the address and report the credit provider sources where it was found.

In other words, only if enough data exists to satisfy your unique KYC requirement-settings, will the API return positive results, together with the source of the data matches, e.g. Vodacom, Edgars, FNB Home Loans, etc.

Apart from the immediately evident advantages of replacing manual with digital – primarily time and cost savings – pbVerify’s Digital KYC API underpins POPI (Protection of Personal Information) Act compliance, it adds another dimension in terms of security, and it removes the probability of human error.